Musical hour-striking clock



- Nov. 17, 1931. P. B. REEVES MU'SICAL HOUR STRIKING CLOCK Filed Oct. 10. 1929 2 Sheets-Shee L] INVENTOR Jg WL 55M ATTORNEY NOV. 17, I P B REEVES MUSICAL HOUR STRIKING CLOCK Filed Oct. 10. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTCR ATTORNEYV/ Patented Nov. 17, 1931 r it a, l i I UNITED STAT-ES .PATENTQFFICE Application filed October 10, 1929., Serial No. 398,627

' This invention relates to musical hourtively, of the clock movement. The plates striking clocks, and more particularly toan 1b and=l6 are held together by a plurallty of attachment to the striking mechanism of a 13111318 and carry thetime tram of gears/gentWo-train eight-day pendulum clock moveerally indlcated by the numeral 17, sa d time Ii ment for producing musical tunes at the end train being driven by a main spring 18 and 55" of each hour. controlled as to speed by the usual pendulum One object of the invention is to provide and escapement mechanism, not shown.

a musical clock of the above nature in which Also mounted between the plates and different tunes may be played at each suc- 16 is astrike-train operating mechanism gen- 10 cessive hour of the day, provision being made erally indicated by the numeral 19, said strike '60 i for readily changing the tunes whenever detrain being driven by a mainrspring 20 and i d, controlled as tospeed by an air fly 21.

A further object is to provide an attach- In order to normally prevent rotation of v ment for the strike train mechanism of a the strike train, provision is made of a count 15 two train clock having a count hook and a wheel 22 having a series of teeth 23' and count wheel, consisting of an additional notches 24: on itsperiphery. The number of count pinionplaced at the rear ofthe mam teeth 23 between successive notches 24 instrike pinionarbor, said count pinion belng creases around the periphery of the count adapted to mesh with a driving wheel carwheel 22 in an arithmetic progression, where- 20 rying a plurality of discs having hammerby the strike tralnwllkbe permitted to run operating projections on their perlpherles a success vely'greater time at each succeedfor successively engaging'other pro ect1ons 1ng hour. if desired, aux liary half-hour on a like number of gong-striking hammer notches, not shown, maybe provided between hub the notches 24 to permit half-hours to be 25 A further object is to provide a device of struck, either by a single hammer or by. a the above nature which will be simple in conplurality of hammers in case a musical chord struction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy is desired. V y j i v to install and manipulate,compact,andvery The count wheel 22 controls a count hook eflicient-and durable inaise. 25, pivoted at 26, and adapted to be lifted Vith these and other objects in view there by suitable mechanism connected with the has been illustrated on the accompanying time train 17 at the endof each successive drawings one form in which the invention hour. The count wheel 22 is mounted upon a may be conveniently embodied in practice. hub 27 attached tothe front frame 15.' The Fig. 1 represents a fragmentary rear view hub 27 also carries a main gear'wheel 28 35 of an eight-day pendulum clock upon which meshing with a mainstrike pinion 2,9 rigidly 35 the present invention has been installed. mounted on a main strike pinion arbor 30. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; 7 Y I The main strike pinion arbor 30 is extend- Fig. 3 isa fragmentary view of one of th ed r'earwardlyj of the black frame 16 and gong-striking hammers. V v carries a count pinion 31 which meshes with Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View of one of the a disc driving wheel 32 mounted upon a hammer operating discs. stud shaft 33. The stud shaft 33' carries Fig. 5. is a fragmentary view showing a thereon a plurality of parallel discsl34, '35, portion of the count wheel. 36,37, and 38, said discs being adapted to Referring now to the drawings in which rotate in unison and each having a series of like reference numerals denote correspondpins 39 arranged'on its periphery in such a ing parts throughout the several views, the I manner that as the disc driving wheel 32 is numeral 10 indicates the clock casehaving rotated when the count hook is releasedat the usual crystal 11 and circular sash 12. each successive hour, the pins 39 on the par- Supported on the rear of the'case 10 are the allel discs 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 will come Gi front and back frames 15 and 16, respecinto engagement successively with upstandcated therebeneath and mounted in a suitable bearing 46 connected to the clock case 10. The hammers 42 are provided on their ends opposite from the heads 43 with silencing arms 47 adapted to be engaged by a stop and silencing lever 48, by means of which the hammer heads 43 may be lifted from the gongs 45 and the projections of the hammers 42 may be simultaneously lowered out of alinement with the pins 89 on the parallel discs 34 to 38.

In order to permit the hammer-operating discs to be readily detached for changing to a new set of tunes, the end of the stud shaft 33 has an annular groove 49 adapted to be engaged by a removable U-shaped friction spring 50, by means of which the discs 34 to 38 are normally held in place, but may be easily slipped ofl from the stud 33 when the spring 49 is removed. This overcomes the I monotony of employing a single set of discs and tunes indefinitely, and the change to a new set of tunes may be made by the user of the clock without requiring the services of an expert.

For the purpose of facilitating the accurate adjustment of the disc sets to the hour, the end of the count pinion arbor 30 may be squared and the count pinion 31 may be slidably mounted thereon, a suitably manually operated forked lever having an indicating pointer at its lower end, not shown, being em ployed to push the count pinion 31 forwardly out of mesh with the disc driving wheel. 32. This construction obviates the necessity of striking around the clock when turned backwardly as the discs can be instantly adjusted to the proper hour by unmeshing the count pinion 31 and the driving wheel 32.

Moreover, at the rear of the parallel discs a dial may be placed for indicating the hours and half-hours. A friction spring may also be employed to normally retain the count pinion 31 at its rearward position in alinement with the disc driving wheel 82.

Operation In operation, vwhen the minute hand of the clock time train reaches 12 oclock, the count hook 25 will be raised from its slot 24 permitting the count wheel 22 to rotate a distance corresponding to the number of strokes to be made. The main strike pinion 29 and the count pinion 31 will cause the disc driving wheel 32 and the parallel discs to rotate and thereby successively lift the hammers 42 to produce the desired succession of different notes according to the hour. The pins 39 will preferably be so arranged on the discs that a different tune will be played each hour; i. e. one tone will be struck at one oclock, two tones at two oclock, etc.

I lVhen it is desired to silence the striking mechanism, it will only be necessary for the operator to shift the stop and silencing lever 48 downwardly, lowering the hammer projections 40 out of alinement with the pins 39 and thereby preventing the gongs from being struck.

One advantage of this construction is that when the stop and silencing lever 48 is down, the time and strike mechanism will function as usual, but the musical tunes will not of course be struck. Then the lever 48 is shifted upwardly again, the next hour will be correctly struck without disengaging the strike train. 7

It will be understood that the parallel discs may be removed and replaced by a new set whenever desired without disarranging the time and strike trains, the hammers, or the gong rods.

' While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for, the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent is:

In a striking clock having a stud shaft, a plurality of gongs, a plurality of gongstriking hammers, a time-keeping mechanism, a strike train under the control of said timekeeping mechanism including a count wheel shaft driven by said strike train at the end of every hour, a plurality of parallel. discs connected together for rotation in unison, said discs being mounted on said stud shaft, gear mechanism for rotatively connecting said discs with said count wheel shaft, each disc having projections on its periphery for engaging said gong-striking hammers, the projections of the discs being so arranged as to produce a different succession of musical notes at each successivehour.

In testimony whereof, I have aflixed my signature to this specification.

PETER B; REEVES. 

